Released by the Korean Film Archive, this boxset collects four classic films directed by Kim Kee Duk, one of Korea's leading filmmakers of the sixties (not to be confused with
Pieta director Kim Ki Duk):
Five Marines (1961),
Barefooted Youth (1964),
The North and South (1965) and
Horse-year Bride (1966).
1. Five Marines (1961)
Kim Kee Duk's directorial debut feature garnered him the Best New Director award at the 1962Daejong Film Awards. This Korean War film looks at the human side of war by following five marines – each with their own stories and families back home – who must undergo a dangerous mission.
2. Barefooted Youth (1964)
Iconic screen couple Shin Sung Il and Um Yang Lan star in the youth melodrama about a gangster and a diplomat's daughter who fall deeply in love despite their class differences. Unable to gain the approval of the girl's mother, the couple make a drastic decision to seal their love for each other. The most representative example of the "adolescent films" that were popular in the sixties,
Barefooted Youth was remade into a television drama starring Bae Yong Joon and Ko So Young in 1997.
3. The North and South (1965)
Based on a radio drama, this wartime melodrama revolves around a woman caught between two men: her husband, a South Korean lieutenant, and her former lover, a North Korean officer who defects to come find her. The film portrays not only their tragic love triangle but also the empathetic bond that develops between the two men.
4. Horse-year Bride (1966) It is said that women born in the year of the horse have fierce tempers and will face lives of hardship, thus making them undesirable candidates for wives. Depicting the newlywed lives of three brides born in the year of the horse, Kim's sex comedy challenges this deeply ingrained superstition with humor and satire.